The comments stemmed from an interview Durant gave Thursday to the sports website the Atlantic, Durant recently visited India and was blunt about the culture shock he experienced.

It’s a country that’s 20 years behind in terms of knowledge and experience,” the website quotes Durant as saying. He added that residents of India were "just a bunch of underprivileged people there and they want to learn how to play basketball."

Durant also said he was disappointed with the conditions near India’s famed Taj Mahal monument, saying he was expecting “holy ground, super protected, very, very clean.” But instead, he saw “mud in the middle of the street.”

Durant also said that houses were unfinished but people were living in them. “No doors. No windows ... stray dogs and then, boom, Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world,” he said.

The reaction from India was swift.

“Maybe you need to be educated on a place you deemed ‘rough’ and ‘20 years behind,’ wrote actress and writer Chhaya Nene, in an “open letter” published by the American Bazaar.